Favourite cattle?

[Bathory]

I'm looking to do some ranching. I haven't explored that part of the game, aside from some chickens and pigs in the pre-release builds. Can you guys help me out with your favourite cattle animals and most hated cattle animals? Modded animal suggestions are welcome too.

Which are your favourite oxen? Which are your favourite cows? Do you keep steers, or do you slaughter male calves? Do you prefer non-bovine livestock?

Ideally, I'd like one species that I can use for caravans, milk, and meat. But I'm open to suggestions. Do you use multiple species, or do you prefer a single one?

Cattle = any bovine-like animal. Typically raised for meat and/or milk.
Ox / oxen = working animal. Typically sterile males.
Steer = castrated male marked for eating once fully mature.
Cow = mature female that has successfully calved. Usually milked.

[Steelfleece]

Vanilla Animals Expanded includes two good choices, Camels (Bactrian-style) and Wooly Cattle. Former's better in hotter climates, latter for colder. Both work as pack animals even if they're not the fastest, they're reasonably rugged, and produce a decent amount of both textiles and milk.

I tend to keep a setup with one large barn/pasture and one smaller. Do some initial breeding to bring up a decent number of healthy young females then sell or slaughter any of the initial stock that are elderly or unhealthy, and keep the females in the larger setup with one male (two if I have plenty of space and few other animals). If there are any losses, reintroduce the male/s to the herd to repopulate. Can do similar with chickens, since they're good for egg production, and can add more pack animals like horses if needed.

[Dis Lexic]

I just take whatever I can get and then set up an autoslaughter where I can have two adults and children of each sex. That provides MORE than enough of what I want them for, while making it easy to provide food. My current herd consists of Muffalo and cows.

[Bathory]

Thanks for the input guys.

Originally posted by Steelfleece:

produce a decent amount of textiles

So you shear them for wool? Or do you mean leather? If you do regularly shear them, do you stop when have you have better textiles, or do you continue shearing them for trade?

[Dis Lexic]

I mean, theres always a need for basic textiles. Even if your pawns are decked out in full flac gear or something, its still a good idea to keep some of the basics around in case of a resource shortage, new colonists or if you dont have any on hand when the ones they are currently using break. And for trading of course.

[Bathory]

Ah okay, that makes sense.

Originally posted by Dis Lexic:

My current herd consists of muffalo and cows.

Which one do you prefer so far? I mean like, do you have separate uses for them or do you only have both species because your herds are small?

[Dis Lexic]

Cows are useful for milk, which is another source of food in case things go tits up with other sources, but I always try and get either Muffalos or alpacas because of the wool. They are a good source of textiles until you can get a source of cotton. And yes, I do only have both because my herds are small.

[marcusaddamsson]

Yea, take what the game gives ya. Altho personally I tend to sell my herd animals rather than eat 'em.

Animals I don't particularly like: Pigs (temp issues), Chickens (lag issues)... and anything small: chinchils, guinea pigs, ducks, etc (too much effort for too little gain).

Animals I like: llamas (good wool), muffalo (good carry cap), mules (if I can't get Horses) in general anything that's not small, I'll tame it and feed it. But like I said, I usually sell most of my animals... which is why I rarely mess with cutting off balls and such. I try not to sell pregnant animals... that's a waste. If you need meat, go hunt some... everyone needs more practice with a gun.

Animals I love: Horses (mounts w carry cap), Megasloths (reproduce fairly fast, nice guards), always a good idea to have a mating pair of boomalopes (just consider putting them in a different pasture) and keeping some sort of dog troop for hauling stuff is useful (altho they can reproduce really fast if you keep too many w balls). Elephants are great too (like Thrumbos if you get lucky), but you really gotta watch those guys... they eat a *lot* of food, like live trees if you let 'em.

Regarding textiles, initially you might need the wool that critters give... but eventually you will have lots of it. Consider putting your crafter on making dusters forever out of the excess wool (like muffalo/megasloth), especially once you have a good pile of alpaca wool or devilstrand (or good skins). Sell the extra dusters. Then when you make the 'real' clothes outta whatever, they'll be better. :)

Lastly... animals can be a real time sink if you're not careful (not to mention the food you use training/taming them). Like when you're first starting a given colony, you might consider keeping your yaks/goats/cows to generate milk. Stuff that in a freezer, and you can make some decent cash on your next run to town. But after a while... you might consider folding up the milk operation, as it's too much time compared to the new avenues you might have toward profit... Slice 'em up, cheeseburgers for everyone!

[Steelfleece]

Originally posted by Bathory:

Thanks for the input guys.

Originally posted by Steelfleece:

produce a decent amount of textiles

So you shear them for wool? Or do you mean leather? If you do regularly shear them, do you stop when have you have better textiles, or do you continue shearing them for trade?

Wool. The base color for woolly cattle is sort of a chestnut, while for camel it's an offwhite, kind of eggshell I guess. Either are decent for clothes (one better for hot climates, one for cold, don't have to guess which) and have something like 150% beauty so they're decent but not the absolute best for some furniture too.

[Bathory]

Ah okay. So how do sheep and similar critters stack up to the large ones? Are sheep and alpacas better for food and wool, or do you prefer more beefy livestock?

Originally posted by marcusaddamsson:

Animals I love: Horses (mounts w carry cap), Megasloths (reproduce fairly fast, nice guards), always a good idea to have a mating pair of boomalopes (just consider putting them in a different pasture) and keeping some sort of dog troop for hauling stuff is useful (altho they can reproduce really fast if you keep too many w balls). Elephants are great too (like Thrumbos if you get lucky), but you really gotta watch those guys... they eat a *lot* of food, like live trees if you let 'em.

Megasloths and elephants... I didn't even consider those guys. Is it worth it to focus on megasloths? Seems like those guys might have to wait until I get bionics. Are they safe to farm, once you've got a breeding pair?

[Vermillion Cardinal]

Cows are my go to unless I'm living in the far north where wooly cows are hardier against extreme cold. I always take whatever farm animal I can get, but once I have cows I tend to sell off the others.

More recently though I've kept a wider variety of animals for the traditional farming experience: sheep, pigs, chickens, cows, and goats. I'll nab alpacas and boomalopes if they appear as well. I've no hard dislike for any particular animal.

Given my mods I'm very laid back when it comes to animal management. No sterilization, no separation of genders, no dividing animals by species whatsoever. Everyone gets crammed into a single barn with a nutrient paste dispenser that gets topped up daily with crops until I reach a critical mass of cows and they end up feeding everyone with their milk paste instead. I may let them out to pasture early on though.

Horses are my go to for caravans, but I'm flexible enough to use dromedaries, donkeys, and yaks if they're available.

[marcusaddamsson]

Well, I'd consider sheep a 'normal' sized animal, so I would likely tame 'em. But like I said, I tend to have muffalo/alpacas/megasloths, so I wouldn't need the wool. Sheep wool is same as muf/mega.. less than alpaca. But I likely wouldn't keep 'em long.

Yea, that first couple megasloth/X taming can be rough. You can line up your non-taming guys in a firing line... and move 'em around as the taming goes on. If it does go bad, instantly draft the tamer.. and run away (not into crossfire) and hope for the best. Yea, you might lose a leg.. Price of doin' bid'ness on the 'Rim.

Of the many different 'guard' animals in vanilla game, I seem to like the Megasloths. They're tough, and can do some dmg too. They reproduce at a sane rate (not too fast, not too slow), and the wool they make isn't nothing. I particularly like that they're herbivores, since I find that to be generally easier to feed... esp on caravans. And they can eat meat too, if you wanna make kibble for 'em.

Honestly... last couple runs I've made.. I've either purchased my initial guard animals or got them via inspired taming or just random dumb luck. Keeping your ppl happy is good, 'cuz they get those 'inspired taming' things more often. And when you do get 'em... wait for it. Many times I've waited to use it.. and I'll get something better roll onto my screen. Current playthru.. I've actually nabbed two thrumbos that way (and won lottery on a third). Now those guys are amazing in a battle. And I get to sell off the cubs for $1000 each...

Don't forget that where you are will determine what kinds of animals will tend to come to your map. I tend to be on temperate forests.

And if you have 'Ideology' you could consider 'venerate'ing one or more animals in your starting Ideo. Depending on your starting scenario, that means you could start with one or more of them. I was venerating Horses for a while.. since it's useful to keep a herd of those, gives everyone a mood bump. But you can't eat 'em.. and you really don't wanna have them die either, so picking a guard animal to venerate could have downsides. But you can sell a venerated critter without any issues.

[Astasia]

Horses are slightly better than cows in nutrient production, even factoring in the milk, with the added benefit of being good pack animals. The only animal better for food production are Ibex, but they have no other utility (if you are really only looking for cattle then I guess Ibex would be the optimal choice though). Horses are the only animal I will regularly ranch, as they are easy to get and have strong early game utility. Even games where I don't plan to do ranching I tend to have a few horses for some amount of time.

Other than that, the only animals I really consider when doing serious ranching are Chinchillas, Boomalopes, and Thrumbos. I might tame a bunch of other animals for handler exp, but not to full on ranch.

Chinchillas are relatively efficient in terms of nutrition gains, and their fur is high beauty and value. Good for making fancy armchairs, and selling very expensive clothes to traders. Probably the highest income animal in the game (unmodded), but I haven't done the full math on that. That could be a downside as well though depending on the difficulty you are playing on and your goals for the game.

If you are doing a ranching run and have dedicated handlers, then boomalopes are an obvious choice for chemfuel production. It's more efficient than refineries these days.

Likewise, if you have skilled handlers, having a thrumbo ranch late game is a good goal, giving you realistic access to the strongest clothes in the game. I would go so far and say that is perhaps the dream of any ranching run.

[Hoki]

personally i go for turkeys, cows, horses and bisons/muffalos.

not the best in regards to food but i never run out of fabrics for long even without relying on hunting or trading

[brown29knight]

Horses or Humans. Both make great pack animals, both make lots of leather and meat, both sell well. Humans require a bit more work to breed, but IVF and growth tanks can speed that along, and they are the only cattle that gives hemogen packs to feed your bloodsuckers.

Just depends if I'm playing a cannibal ideo, or lots of bloodfeeders, or not.

[MP]

Originally posted by brown29knight:

Horses or Humans.

Why not both? :madscientist: